The Human Code
The Human Code" podcast unravels the intricate blend of technology, leadership, and personal growth, featuring insights from visionary leaders and innovators shaping the future. Host Don Finley dives deep into the human stories behind technological advancements, inspiring listeners at the crossroads of humanity and tech.
The Human Code
Leading Through Change: Mary Naylor on Tech Evolution
Embracing Technology and AI with Mary Naylor: Insights from a Seasoned Entrepreneur
In this episode, we welcome Mary Naylor, a pioneering entrepreneur and technology leader with over three decades of experience. Mary, the founder and former CEO of VIP Desk, discusses the evolution of technology, from pre-internet days to the rise of AI, and its impact on businesses and teams. She emphasizes the importance of continuous learning and adaptation, sharing practical tips like the '30 for 30' approach to skills development. Mary also highlights how AI can enhance human potential, the necessity of upskilling employees, and the critical role of AI in future business success. Her insights provide valuable guidance for entrepreneurs looking to integrate technology into their operations and optimize their personal and professional growth.
00:00 Introduction to Mary Naylor
01:00 Mary's Entrepreneurial Journey
01:46 Technological Transformations Over the Decades
04:43 Embracing Change and Continuous Learning
08:55 AI Integration and Upskilling
19:06 Personal Applications of AI
22:11 AI Strategies for Entrepreneurs
28:58 Final Thoughts and 30 for 30 Approach
Sponsored by FINdustries
Welcome to The Human Code, the podcast where technology meets humanity, and the future is shaped by the leaders and innovators of today. I'm your host, Don Finley, inviting you on a journey through the fascinating world of tech, leadership, and personal growth. Here, we delve into the stories of visionary minds, Who are not only driving technological advancement, but also embodying the personal journeys and insights that inspire us all. Each episode, we explore the intersections where human ingenuity meets the cutting edge of technology, unpacking the experiences, challenges, and triumphs that define our era. So, whether you are a tech enthusiast, an inspiring entrepreneur, or simply curious about the human narratives behind the digital revolution, you're in the right place. Welcome to The Human Code. In this episode, we are delighted to welcome Mary Naylor, a seasoned entrepreneur and technology leader. Mary is the founder and former CEO of VIP desk, and currently serves as a board member and advisor to several companies. Her extensive experience spans health tech, data innovation, and supporting female entrepreneurs. Today, Mary and I will share. Her insights on the evolution of technology and its impact on business drawing from her extensive entrepreneurial journey. The importance of embracing change and continuous learning with practical tips, like the 30 for 30 approach to skills development. How AI can be integrated to enhance human potential, including practical applications and the importance of upscaling employees. Join us as we delve into these engaging topics with Mary Naylor, this episode is packed with valuable insights that will inspire you to rethink how you approach technology and innovation. In your business and personal life, you won't want to miss it. welcome back. I have Mary Naylor here who is probably becoming one of my new friends. she's just such a, got such a good heart and an incredible sense of humor. as far as our first few minutes together on the show, I would love to hand it off to her just by asking, what is it that got you interested in the intersection of humanity and technology?
Mary Naylor:Don, first of all, delighted to be here with you today. So for me, it probably goes way back. I've been an entrepreneur my whole career and, started my first company in my early twenties and this is pre internet, okay? So maybe you can't even imagine that time. I'm not sure how old you are, Don, but I probably just aged myself.
Don Finley:grew up without the internet as well.
Mary Naylor:Okay. I've got some funny stories we could talk about there, but I think because of that experience and having, spanned an entrepreneurial career over 30 years, predominantly focused in a certain industry and going through the advent and you'll laugh at this. My first company, we did marketing via fax broadcast. Some of your listeners may not even know what a fax is, we had handwritten forms. I think what really has sparked, I
Don Finley:haven't heard the term fax broadcast in decades
Mary Naylor:well, there you go. So that's more of a humorous item, but I say that because, what's gotten me interested, in your kickoff question here is I've gone through three decades of technological transformation, how it impacts, My companies and how it impacts my team and the people that you're working with. so each one from, the bringing on even bringing when in my first business, which is called Capital Concierge, we placed hotel style concierge in the lobbies of commercial office buildings to provide flowers, gifts, tickets, entertainment, you name it, corporate services. We didn't even necessarily have computers at the desks initially. Okay. But imagine, bringing on all these technologies, over time from the internet, the concierge being able to use Google searches instead of having to do manual research, the advent of mobile, which now you have a concierge effect in the palm of your hand. How does that potentially impact us? My team, my people, then you fast forward to here we are. with definitely the most impactful, with AI technology, coming into our world and workplace and to your teams, how that intersection of humanity, technology, how do you make the bridges, make it comfortable and provide the people that you work with? The skills and capabilities that they too can advance and not feel left behind. So I think that's just, it's my history of witnessing, you know, all of these changes and each one comes faster than the next, and it's overwhelming. so that's, what's, has my interest. It's just my longevity from, watching all of these new technologies be layered onto the human element of how we live our lives and how we work.
Don Finley:that's so fascinating because you've hit On a word that I love when we talk about AI and it's digital transformation, or I don't think you use digital, but like the word transformation and it's, we've gone through this process multiple times in the past Both of our careers, we've seen this happen with the internet. We've seen it with e commerce. We've seen it with just the digitization of information.
Mary Naylor:on.
Don Finley:and now AI and social media and AI, Right. there is a tremendous impact that we have in all of these areas. what is the inspiration that gets you through all of these exciting times of change? Because it can be a difficult venture.
Mary Naylor:in terms of how, what gets me through these exciting times of change is one, is the excitement of being able to learn something new. And I think, one thing that I've tried in my entrepreneurial career and encourage other entrepreneurs as well, is one of the things to be an effective leader or, a team member within a company is. Wanting to stay ahead of trends and continually improve yourself, both personally and professionally. So how can we harness these new technologies for ourselves, for our businesses to be, more productive. And, I think for me, it's the ability to embrace change, be flexible, being willing to pivot your business. even areas of your personal lives and always trying to be open to new opportunities and adapting, disruptive technologies. I think it's easy to be afraid, Oh my gosh, how could this put us out of business if we don't move, if we don't adopt, but it's really just being, having the courage to. step in, especially if you're a non technical person. And there are many of us not in non technical roles. and how do you have the courage, the support, the access to create the comfort, because we've all had to learn to use new tools over time, you And if you look back, just like we went on that continuum of pre internet to, AI everywhere, all along the way, you and I both. have adapted. So of our teams and how can we leverage these to maximize what's available to us instead of having that fear factor? So that, that's, what's, motivated me and energized me throughout the course of different transformations over time.
Don Finley:And I love it. It's curiosity, self development, self learning, and then also asking the question of like, how can this benefit the company, the team, the people that are around her? I think it's a really nice rubric to use it around. And I've noticed in my own entrepreneurial journeys that self development, has been a very forcing function in the growth of the business. If there is something wrong in the business, there's probably something wrong with my own self an area to grow. So
Mary Naylor:I would agree with you. And, it's incumbent upon leaders to, I think, one of the things I've always thought is, it's so important to, as a leader, to surround yourself by different skills and people that are smarter than you. there's many, many a leader who hesitates, to hire the smarter because you want to be in the spotlight, but actually that's what creates a phenomenal. company and that one that's able to scale because you're willing to bring in diverse sets of talents and people that are smarter in other areas than you are. And, I had the fortune of participating in this entrepreneurial, development program for years. And one thing I thought there was really a light bulb game changer for me is that every person has what they call unique abilities. And those are abilities that you're energized by what you do. Other people comment that you're great at those, and then you have things you're excellent at. they certainly can do well. Like I can write a great RFP, but what energizes me is strategy sessions, product planning, ideation. And then they talk about unique ability, what energizes you, what we're excellent at, capable, competent. I can do HR. I can do that stuff. And then there's things we're incompetent at. And to be mindful, it's I cannot assemble a thing, get me an Ikea box, I can't put it together. My son can put it together without looking at the instructions. So I go to that because in terms of this leadership and as we explore new technologies. It's important to understand where you as a leader, your unique abilities are, and then go out and seek all of these different talents and these different ways of approaching that compliment and let everyone ideally work in their unique ability as much as they can, what energizes them. So that's just something that I'm pretty passionate about in terms of, addressing technology, addressing how you bring the teams along and how you build the talent out.
Don Finley:It's absolutely fantastic to hear that. And I appreciate that as well. How do you see AI fitting into that model or how are you investing your time and efforts into making that a reality?
Mary Naylor:could you repeat the question for me, Don? Just, I want to
Don Finley:Yeah, no problem. love what you've outlined here as far as like the idea that we have strengths. We have things that we may be good at, but we don't really want to be doing. So they don't really follow our passion or our purpose. for what we have in this life. How do you see AI fitting into that model?
Mary Naylor:Well, several things, I think, one of the most important things, because. I recently attended a summit put on by CEO Coaching International, which is a leading coaching group that focused on, growth oriented entrepreneurs and CEOs. And, I'm sure you may have heard of Peter Diamantis, a futurist, technologist, and serial entrepreneur. And he made a prediction of this as a keynote speaker, which was pretty daunting. He said, at the end of this decade, there are going to be two types of companies. Those that are totally utilizing new AI and those that will be out of business. And I was like, so I think, unlike other technologies, when we think about the critical importance of, you bringing All of our team members, all of our employees into the fold and equipping them with what's a critical go forward, future school skill set. And then if you look about what I just went back to, what are people passionate about, it's how can we introduce AI into the areas that they are passionate about? You have someone that's great being an analyst. How can they. Leverage AI, you've got the marketers, you've got the sales team. So I think it's looking at the skill sets and the passion sets. And then how do you start to introduce AI, first in terms of skilling, but then where they can start to get the command and comfort to accelerate what they're doing to be able to do more high value work. imagine that, I probably shared in my bio, this is something I'm just so excited about. Several months ago, I joined, as a strategic advisor, Mission Impact Academy, MIA, and they're a leading, AI learning platform, a community with a mission to upskill 1 million non technical. Women and individuals by 2030. And I think, what's come to me through that is that everyone wants to learn AI, granted there are people that are afraid of it and. That's a whole nother conversation, but, there's a stat out there that 94 percent of employees, want to gain the skills to work in generative AI. Only 5 percent of companies are actually upskilling at scale. So there's this tremendous need. To bring AI competency across all levels of the organization, not just the technical people, to keep competitive and also to work and what is going to be a truly AI integrated future. So I think, that's what I'm very passionate about and how do we address that and then bring it to the teams to equip them to, upskill and become and be at what I think is a great. Framework that they share with their learners is that AI is not a skill set, but it's a mindset that we must embrace and that to think of AI as augmented intelligence, And that in AI is a tool. it's not this massive, horrible thing, but AI is a tool that's there to enhance our knowledge, our productivity and efficiency. So we can focus on, more high value activities. So net, net long winded answer. You I think AI in this equation is brings the opportunity with that framework of, unique abilities I just laid out to actually optimize. the passion and energy that people get out of doing the things they're best at, because it's going to make them, better at that and be able to more focus on additional areas of development. So I view it as a true game changer in, how we work, how we can progress, how we can, optimize our personal and professional performance. by leveraging AI,
Don Finley:I love those points that you're hitting on because when we talk to companies about their AI, implementations, it starts out at the boardroom level, It's like, what do you want to be doing with this? But with every digital transformation that we've gone through, it's a transformation of how you work. And so it really begins at the bottom of the organization as well. And so you need to have that group. the changes that you're going to make or digital transformations fall on their face without that, company wide buy in
Mary Naylor:you are a hundred percent right on that, Don. it couldn't be when you start at the top without buy in and going through the whole organization, what I've heard best practices from other leaders and you raise a good point, I think, that quote from Peter Diamantis, you're going to be. Fully legalized now are out of business. It's pretty daunting. Companies are overwhelmed. there are many, the continuum of where companies fall in AI adoption and actual implementation and execution, it's all over the map. And, many executives, leaders I talked to, they're overwhelmed. It's moving at such a fast pace. They don't know where to start. As you say, it is a board imperative. because it's okay, what are we doing with AI? But then, I'll say, there's obviously very large companies. But, for your emerging growth, your smaller companies and many other companies, ultimately I think the AI vision has to start with the CEO, but bring in the team and best practices I've heard is to form, an AI council where you're bringing people in from cross functional areas from all over. And then I think, it's also important to
Don Finley:and then also add in, you talked about curiosity before enabling the frontline worker to have curiosity when it comes to using the AI so that you can get the best practices because I've but I've shared with my team before, like sometimes the AI tells me what to do. And sometimes I tell the AI what to do when it comes to like software development. The AI is my best intern that I've ever had. And I'm using the general umbrella. There's different tools that we use in different areas like that. That's important. to augment the intelligence that I have in a core function that I'm good at. Whereas marketing is not my strength, that's a little bit outside of my comfort zone. So the AI is kind of leading in that regard. It helps to pull the information out of me, but at the same time, I need its expertise to draw into it. So that's the augmented that I think you're talking
Mary Naylor:Just be augmented. it's not AI just doesn't stand alone. It is really the equation, the critical equation of AI plus human, because it is an iterative process to get the best output and it takes our existing knowledge, It's taking your expertise and you're getting something out of it, iterating back, and so I think, that's, what's really important. And you make an excellent point there. And then I was, going back to when you said to allow people to experiment and that it has to be. starting from the bottom up, I heard another speaker, a gentleman named Rajiv Kapoor, who wrote a great book, simplicity and AI and, he was telling an audience of, CEOs that, companies should, cause some people are afraid to use AI at work. They should fund the paid versions of the tools, look at the tools they're already using and make it open for people to start to play while they work on formal training or upskilling, but provide the access and encourage the experimentation and exploration, for employees on their own,
Don Finley:Do you know what's funny? About a third of them are, already doing the experimenting, but the company isn't actually getting the benefit. the individual is getting the benefit. The company's getting a better work product from that one person, but they're not getting that across the board.
Mary Naylor:you're so right. And, there's, I've read some, reports or, articles where the team members and the employees are using it, but they're afraid to say they're using it because they're afraid it looks like they're short, taking shortcuts or not doing the work when in actuality, it can really optimize and amplify what they're doing, so to be able, I think. It's going to be incumbent on all of us leaders within our organizations to have this. encouragement that we all need to embrace AI and every company is going to have a different way and ability to roll it out and scale it out. But, another best practice is, with your team, start with identifying processes across different functional areas, like HR, what's repetitive, what's mundane, like reviewing resumes, generating marketing content, data analytics, customer service opportunities, pick a one to two, initiatives that would have high impact and are an easier lift. They're not going to require this massive amount of money. This now, and then, and CEO coaching international, what they work with companies to do is build AI roadmaps. and to have this methodology where you start small, you build, and then you've got a bigger vision of, incredible applications that can bring a great ROI, but to do those over time and to learn and adjust. so I think, like I said, AI is touching every aspect of. A professional organization, of a entrepreneur like yourself, and the employees that work with them along in our own personal lives, how we're tapping this, amazing tool
Don Finley:What do you think are some of the most profound areas that have changed in your own personal life from AI?
Mary Naylor:in my own personal life. Okay. you're going to. Get a kick out of this. Hopefully, in my personal life, a couple of things, I love to travel. My companies were concierge companies, so putting, itineraries in where I actually love to plan trips, but now I say I'm going on a five day trip to, Portugal. I love food, great wine. I want to take certain kinds of tours. I'm active. I like boutique hotels and in seconds. what would have, I would have spent hours combing websites and, Google searches to compile all this. Now it's just there. It gives me a great starting point. Then I can go in it. I use it for cooking. I use it for things. I have two teenage sons. How can I help my son address this issue? Or there's this big, assignment coming up. What might be the best way for him to study if he's, has this type of, approach? How could I support him? and then I'll say, writing toasts for weddings, I just got married, to love my life in October, my second, my second and last, marriage, Don. And, I ran various elements of the wedding program and ideas.
Don Finley:that's a good one.
Mary Naylor:So, my husband's son's getting a new dog needed to write a puppy training manual and my husband's in a training expert. I just said, take a look at this. Rick. I put it right a manual for the 1st, 12 weeks of a golden retriever puppy. And You know what she do, activities. So I use it an incredible amount in my personal life. I'm sure there's even, more ways I could do, but those are a few examples for you.
Don Finley:so along those lines, I've used it just in the last week to write a meal plan for me based on an author's work and then produce the grocery list that is necessary for me to go and get that. So I'm with you. It's incredibly helpful. But the other one that I enjoy using is I tell it to pretend like it's Carl Young and I use it for therapy on a regular basis as well.
Mary Naylor:Wow. I've read about some AI therapist tools. there's numerous ones coming out. on the marketing, one's called Rosie. Someone told me about, but as they said that some people actually prefer it because they feel less, the lens of being in another person. That is, so I find it all.
Don Finley:I thought what it's really nice for, and it does not replace the human kind of like component of it, but that it is, and I also run it locally. I don't trust any of the companies to have that like deep thought of my own mind kind of thing. but it's there. It's right there. It's always available. So whenever I need to go in and try something, It's there and it gives good advice, I will say. And that's a really odd thing to mention. for the entrepreneurs out there, the ones who are starting from that green field, like breaking glass and figuring out where to go, what is a solid AI strategy for them to come out with?
Mary Naylor:I think 1, it's 1st starts with what is their product and service and what is their value proposition? you have to know what that is. what product or service are you delivering? And then just like we talked about with a larger company, Where are the opportunities, especially for startups, just to, automate and save money on, when you start a company, cash is king and if you can preserve, not having to spend money on hiring too many people too fast to do more of the mundane, repetitive tasks. What are all the various, tools that others have developed that you could use in your building, whether it's lead gen, There's some great AI lead gen tools out there, whether it's you're in, customer service, how can you, reduce calls or inbound inquiries or emails that are not quote high value that really require human interaction. So I think, Donna goes back to. What is your product service? Look at your value proposition. Look at who your ideal customer profile is. And then I think it's really doing two maps. It's mapping all of your processes end to end. So, here is your customer journey. Where are all the places where we could insert tools, AI tools that would And help us scale faster without, people or dragging us down. And then the same thing is if you had to map end to end of the process flow of what your product is from inception, if you're manufacturing a product, if you're developing a service, et cetera, what are the tools you can use? And then. just taking a step back further. If you're really just, launching a business, AI is an incredible tool to actually, draft a pretty solid business plan. Like I want to do this, it will do a SWOT analysis. It will do the market research. You can, geofence it, you want to open a bakery. Who are all the bakeries? what are their differentiators? And so you can go in and, look at, I'm going to launch this. Now I'm taking a step back to not just a new entrepreneur who's launched a company, but if you are gearing up to launch an idea, you've got your product, you've got your service. it's an incredible way. To short circuit, a lot of steps gain incredible intelligence that, companies spend money on doing market research, startup entrepreneurs don't have that money to spend. And so to be able to use it, to iterate your plan and have it ask you, more information, it can. What questions should I be asking about my market? it can come up, I saw someone plug in, come up with the URL, the name of the company, the mottos. it's just blowing. for product launches, I saw someone. Do a demo and where they walk through a bunch of, executives, actually showing them how to use AI to walk through a strategy and really pressure test a new product they were bringing to launch. And they use it as part of an, as a part of an executive team planning session, and it provided. Further to consider once again, the human plus AI for their discussion. And then, Oh, but we forgot to add this. And we know this about, a competitor, or we know this about a component that we're going to need in the product that we're having. So, I think, the more people get exposed. To the endless possibilities just to expand your knowledge set and to give you, it's just a jumpstart, brainstorming sessions, strategy. I do marketing your technology, for marketers. For content, you've got to write, you're trying to come up with a compelling article. It's a first draft. You're trying to come up with some creative, blog content. You want to come up with, you're an expert in, or your quote, knowledge, expertise, thought leadership falls in these three areas. Generate lists and feed it your past. blogs or information or posts. I'd like you to generate a list of 10 topics for the next month. And it just gives you ideas, and here's my audience, as you, as we all know, the more effectively you can use it by giving it a role, by giving it context, by giving it your desired output and format, the better, your results are going to be.
Don Finley:Absolutely. And I think you've hit on two points here. One, when you're implementing it inside the business for your product, like looking at the customer journey, looking for the use cases that would actually impact it. But then additionally, when you're doing your stuff day to day, you have got an endless field of experts that are inside of these AIs. that can help you to accomplish those tasks that are there. I think those two points are absolutely brilliant because it is, it's both an external facing like, Hey, here's how the business is going to be serving its customers better. But then on the internal, it's like, how do we utilize this knowledge and information that we have? And the way that I like have been Thinking about it is we have, we've had the internet, we've had this knowledge out there, right? But we've never had a great tool for extracting that for the specific need that we have in this moment. And that's where we're at today is we're able to garner all that knowledge and, and present it back to us in a frame that is compelling to this moment that we sit in right now.
Mary Naylor:think that's an excellent, insight and way to, crystallize that, this, all this massive, world of incredible knowledge that's out there on the internet. It's been at our fingertips to be able to tap that, leverage that, whether, it's in the more, the chat GPTs of the world that are drawing all that, or companies that are feeding and, being trained on their own internal data to be able to extract, just like you said, in a useful form that is human guided in the outputs that we want. And so. I think, Don, you just, hit on a really important point.
Don Finley:Mary, I gotta say, it's been an absolute pleasure having you. on today. Is there anything you'd like to leave the audience with?
Mary Naylor:I think, I touched on it earlier. It's we all need to embrace change and be flexible and pursue opportunities that are new and not be afraid. It's never too late. You're never too old. And I read something at the start of the year that I've tried and I've applied it to AI because I knew. I need to get my own handle on AI. And I read this, tip for gaining knowledge and just continual self improvement. I don't know if you've heard of 30 for 30, but do something, cause like I said, AI and everything that's coming is so overwhelming. 30 for 30, do something, learn a new skill, pick that skill. It could be a different one every month, but let's call it AI. Do it for 30 minutes for 30 days. And at the end of that, you will have spent 15 hours learning AI. It could be listening to a webinar. It could be playing around on chat GPT. It could be finding a free course, reading an article, but those micro steps compounded leave to incredible, maximum output. So I just love that 30 for 30, just makes things less overwhelming.
Don Finley:yeah, That is a fantastic little addition. And Thank you. I think we're going to be implementing that at least at my house
Mary Naylor:That can apply to a variety of things, but just think, if I told you, I need you to spend 15 hours doing a deep dive into AI or learning, how to generate X, Y, and Z. 30 for 30 is not so much. And
Don Finley:No, it really
Mary Naylor:Time block it. And there you go.
Don Finley:Oh, so fantastic. once again, Mary, thank you so much. It's been an absolute pleasure. to have you on the show today and look forward to continuing the conversation.
Mary Naylor:My pleasure, Don. So again, thank you for having me and, really appreciate the opportunity to discuss, a game changing, world changing topic that we're all living in.
Don Finley:Absolutely. Thank you for tuning into The Human Code, sponsored by FINdustries, where we harness AI to elevate your business. By improving operational efficiency and accelerating growth, we turn opportunities into reality. Let FINdustries be your guide to AI mastery, making success inevitable. Explore how at FINdustries. co.
